sbrook
Premium,Mod
join:2001-12-14
H0H 0H0
 ·Rogers Hi-Speed
Host:
Rogers
Bell Canada
1 edit | reply to ronnieshih
Re: Portable Internet? Does it really work??
Tower space is not dedicated to just the obvious carrier. All kinds of companies rent tower space. We have a cop shop here with a huge tower and they have microwave links out to other facilities on their tower. It's often used for simple point to point comms still here. I know that a lot of microwave links were disconnected in the US due to a shortage of bandwidth several years ago. I worked on a project with Williams to replace some computer equipment because of the change from microwave at that time.
The reason for the touch tone fee is historic ... many years ago, DTMF on a line was done by an adaptor that did cost the telco a lot to install and maintain. It was part of the regulated service (kind of like the state regulation of utilities charges there) It's been complained about many times, but nobody's had the balls to actually DO something about it (for fear that Bell will just find another way to screw money out of their subscribers!) |
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ronnieshih
join:2000-11-28
Woodridge, IL
| reply to ronnieshih
Wow. That response just gave me great insight into the network over there. Thanks so much for that info and pardon my lack knowledge about our friendly neighbor. You were right about that touchtone thing. But I don't understand the requirement to pay the extra for tone instead of pulse since it's all standard here. Can you tell me this next... what are the microwave transmitters for on some towers I see over there? We don't have a whole lot of that now in Chicago and am not sure what it's being used for in Toronto area. |
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sbrook
Premium,Mod
join:2001-12-14
H0H 0H0
·Rogers Hi-Speed
Host:
Rogers
Bell Canada
| reply to ronnieshih
Sorry but you're horribly mislead ...
Rogers is the twin of Comcast .. It was a cable operator, purchased other companies that included cable and pager and then wireless companies and later media and sports. Filthy Rich? I don't think so ... their debt rating after losing @Home service a few years ago plummeted to junk after they had to borrow so much to become their own ISP. Canadian lenders looked on broadband as a high risk business ... see below.
Bell Canada is the evil twin of AT&T! It's the telephone company and offers ADSL services in Ontario and Quebec. If that line is so bad, then it won't do well with ADSL!
There's no reason why your wife's parents should be stuck on rotary dial, especially in downtown Toronto! If it was anything like MY parents, they'd say that they aren't paying extra for touch tone! (We pay an extra fee for touch tone!) Crackly when wet outside is purely from not complaining!
We HAVE fibre into the residential areas ... that's how cable and cable internet is delivered too ... just like Comcast, it's an HFC network. Similarly Bell Canada is introducing FTTN remotes to deliver higher DSL speeds, although deployment is slow.
What we LACK is FTTH like Verizon's FIOS.
Canada is a lot more fiscally conservative and it's why we didn't have banks like Bear Stearns fail and didn't have a mortgage crisis, as a result they're a lot more careful about lending to companies like Rogers to invest in the internet (especially after the .com bust of the early 2000's.
The governing body for Canadian telecoms is the CRTC (Canadian Radio and Telecommunications Commission) which is like the FCC. It operates under 2 Federal Government ministries ... the Department of Industry, and the Heritage Ministry. Policy is made by the Dept of Industry and Parliament and not the CRTC ... this makes things a little strange. The CRTC does not regulate the internet as such.
Bottom line is that cable is your best bet.
There are other options like the fibre service offered by what was Toronto Hydro (the power company) but you have to be in a building serviced by their fibre.
Bottom line, your wife's best deal is with Rogers cable. The service is generally stable and definitely a LOT faster than the wireless service. Sounds like she's using it for something it really isn't intended for. It's far more like tethering a laptop to a cellphone with a data plan ... except not QUITE as much a rip off! |
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ronnieshih
join:2000-11-28
Woodridge, IL
| reply to ronnieshih
I understand what Rogers' services enclose. It's the evil twin of AT&T over here. US has spent the last many years routing fiber cables to residential areas to boost connectivity all around but has Canada joined the bandwagon? My wife lives with her parents in an old downtown Toronto area where the houses were built back in the 60s. They still need to use pulse dialing for their house phone and it gets crackly when it's wet outside. I know Rogers is filthy rich and why hasn't anyone jumped onto the bandwagon to better the internetworking infrastructure? AT&T here governs all backbone circuits running through the entire US. What is the governing body of Canada's communication infrastructure? |
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sbrook
Premium,Mod
join:2001-12-14
H0H 0H0
·Rogers Hi-Speed
Host:
Rogers
Bell Canada
| reply to ronnieshih
Rogers is not just a wireless company, but a Cable TV company amongst other things, so offer cable internet, with several speed tiers ... »https://www.rogers.com/web/Rogers.portal···_HISPEED
and the general page is »www.rogers.com
The Extreme service is 1Mbps upstream, and Express is 684K, don't remember what extreme plus upstream is any more.
The portable is intended as just that ... portable. For the convenience of people on the move a lot ... or like to spend time online in coffee shops etc! OR it's for people in rural/semi-rural areas where conventional services are not available. It doesn't work particularly well in metropolitan areas due to the metals in buildings, just like cell phones.
Fibre to the home is not available here except in a few select condos! No Verizon level service here!
Bell Canada (the telephone company) provide ADSL services too, but I would not consider them. Speeds are usually up to 7Mbps (and up to means anything up to about 6!) In a few lucky places you can get higher speed service, but although Rogers is bad enough to deal with, in the last year or two, Bell has turned into a nightmare. |
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ronnieshih
join:2000-11-28
Woodridge, IL
| I'm a telecommunication guy here in Chicago. My wife is in Toronto. I have had to setup this wireless/portable internet thing for her from Rogers service a few times from 2 different locations (downtown and uptown) and quite frankly, this infrature/technology does not work that well. Can anyone tell me if the province of Ontario have a network of fiber/coax/copper cable infrastructure in the city of Toronto? I'm here in Chicago with Comcast service pushing super high download speed over hard cabling while I see agonizingly slow internet connection speed using this wireless modem that gets no more than 3 bars of signal at any given time. Is this portable internet riding off Canada's 2G/3G (I'm not sure what's available there right now) cell network? Do they not have plans to lay down fibers or at least new copper across the city of Toronto? Or correct me if I'm wrong if there is already existing copper/fiber cables underground and this portable internet technology is simply a way to ease installation and cabling headaches. |
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